by Audrey
“What in the world are you going to do with a big bag of flour?” That was the question we got from the couple behind us in the checkout line a while back, and that single question has bothered me ever since. Have we, as a society, turned so far away from our roots that we don’t know what to do with a bag of flour?! Now, I know that this most likely doesn’t speak for the majority of people, but it is becoming more and more common. We are becoming a people of convenience and losing the art of cooking from scratch in the home. I know I've already talked about the WHY to cook from scratch in a previous blog, but I thought I’d share some thoughts and tips on HOW we can hold on to those roots a little tighter in our homes.
When I say cooking from scratch, it can be taken at different levels. For some it means making their own taco seasoning or grinding their own wheat. For others it may mean making cookies out of a cake mix. So what? You have to start somewhere. If you have to start with the cake mix because you’ve never cooked before in your life, go for it! I may not consider mixes from a box to be from scratch, but hey, I've been cooking most of my life and my perspective on cooking has evolved accordingly. We can all learn, but we have to start from somewhere. Once you get comfortable with what you know, why not expand your horizons? Next time try making your cookies with flour and sugar (etc.), instead of the mix. Here are some tips on how to make taking that step of cooking from scratch a little easier.
Accessibility
Not only having the necessary staple ingredients, but having them where you can easily get to them is crucial if you want cooking from scratch to become the norm. Have you ever seen/used these storage buckets? They’re 5 gallon buckets with a Gamma Seal Lid that screws on and is air tight. It’s a great solution to keeping some of that food storage in the kitchen pantry where it’s easy to get to, and it's one of the solutions we use in our own home. We have one for each: flour, sugar, wheat, and rice, and they are used on a daily basis. It is an awesome way to have these basic necessities of cooking from scratch right at your fingertips. Think about it. What do you use, and how can you make it accessible?
Plan Ahead |
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Now that there’s easy access to these basics, who has the time to use them? If any of you are like me, there’s a tendency not to plan dinner until it’s time to cook it. Yeah, about that…the only way I seem to actually cook a good meal from scratch is when I’ve planned ahead, often with a menu board. I’ll make a list of meals on my board that I have ingredients for and all I have to do when dinner time comes around is pick one! Yay for cooking dinner from scratch and not just popping a frozen pizza in the oven because I don’t know what else to do! (Using a menu board can have so many benefits! I’m going to be writing a blog in the near future about it so, please, watch for it!)
Cook Food You're Excited About
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Menu boards are especially helpful when it comes to cooking from scratch for those of you that don’t particularly enjoy cooking. You're looking ahead to find meals you can be excited about (even if it's mostly to eat it...)! Who’s going to want to actually get up the motivation to cook if you already know it’s not going to be that great? Yeah, I’ll admit, one of my greatest motivational tools is Pinterest! My Recipes board is a mile long with dishes I’m dying to try! Why not build your own collection of dishes to try? Maybe it's pinterest, maybe it's old family recipes, your favorite meal with a twist, or one that someone close to you has highly recommended. Who knows, maybe you’ll be excited the next time you step into the kitchen to make dinner.
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I know cooking from scratch can be intimidating, especially if you came from a home where it almost never happened. It does take practice, and it certainly helps if you have someone that knows what they’re doing to help you get started, but in my opinion it certainly wouldn’t hurt to at least try to make cooking from scratch a little more common in your own home. And keep in mind that even those of us that have been doing it for years still flop in our attempts sometimes. That’s half of the adventure. Feel free to share your own adventure in the comments below!
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